Inspirational Examples of Video Backgrounds in Web Design

Web design is all about telling a story and conveying the right message. Irrespective of the genre or topic of the website in question. Great web design leaves no stone unturned in its bid to connect and interact with its users.

And when it comes to fostering interaction or conveying a message, nothing beats video!

More and more video content is being generated every day, and modern internet users often tend to prefer videos and images over plain text. As such, incorporating a video background in your web design can go a long way to bringing your design to life.

In this article, I will assess the importance of using video backgrounds in your web design projects, as well as mention a couple of downsides.

The ‘Take Your Pulse‘ website is an excellent example of video backgrounds in use.

Video backgrounds rose to popularity in 2013 and have been in vogue ever since. As the name suggests, a website with a video background uses, well, a video as its background. Clearly, it can either make the overall design impressive beyond compare, or, if poorly implemented, it can ruin even the best of designs.

The most obvious benefit of having a video background on your website is that it makes up for visual presentation in an unobtrusive manner. Videos can tell stories that can otherwise not be described using static text content. This can add to the visual experience of your website and impress your visitors.

Enough talking! Let’s take a look at some inspirational sites that are using video backgrounds effectively.

Creative Portfolio/Agency Websites

Creative portfolio sites, such as those of design agencies or artists or musicians, are the ideal candidate for video backgrounds. In such websites, you do not need to emphasize the content using words; instead, the idea is to offer an ambiance that makes your creativity stand out.

Product and eCommerce Websites

eCommerce stores, landing pages, and product pages can use video backgrounds as well, especially if yours is a dedicated site selling a given niche or product (as opposed to eBay or Amazon that offer virtually every type of commodity).

You can use video backgrounds to connect with your buyers, and at the same time, provide them with a pleasant user experience while shopping or browsing through products.

Music and Movie Websites

Some Considerations to Bear in Mind

However, a video background is not everyone’s cup of tea. For example, it goes without saying that if you were to use a video background on a blog or a news magazine website, you will kill every shred of user experience that your design could have had.

Instead, video backgrounds are meant for websites where user interaction is more important than the user interface. Web sites that need to convey a sense of enigma or aura, as well as websites that need to symbolize or stand for a given message — such sites are best suited for video backgrounds.

Among other things, you also need to be aware of the page speed factor. Videos can be a pain to load on slower connections, so make sure that you have followed all the norms of proper compression and encoding. Similarly, do not forget the mobile-ready aspect of web design, because no matter what, a good portion of your traffic will probably be using mobile devices anyway.